This invention relates to a lawn rake having a spring member for stiffening the rake. More particularly, this invention relates to a lawn rake wherein a spring member is anchored in such a manner so as to lessen deflection of the lawn rake. Still more particularly, this invention relates to fixing a continuous loop spring having a coil anchored on the rake head, thereby providing improved stiffness and permitting use of a spreader member for holding the tines to an unitary molded plastic body.
In lawn rakes or similar hand tools, the use of a stiffening member, such as a spring, is well known. For example, in the Benson U.S. Pat. No. 695,139, a spring member is used for biasing a cleaning frame relative to the tines of a garden rake. The spring member includes a coil spring portion secured to the handle of the garden rake. Similarly, the Bullard U.S. Pat. No. 948,497 shows a similar cleaning attachment for a garden rake wherein the spring member has a coil secured to the handle of the rake and another coil spring intermediate the spring ends.
More recently, lawn and garden rakes have included stiffening members for stiffening the action of a plurality of tines secured by a spacer in a predetermined alignment. In general, such springs include a length of spring wire having a coiled portion intermediate the ends and having an end portion secured to the spacer and having the other end portion secured to the handle of the rake. Early examples of such a construction are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,959,893 and 2,137,795 to Bailie.
More recent examples of similar constructions are shown in the Germain et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,073 and Des. U.S. Pat. No. 293,196, and to Ipema, U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,311. Each of these constructions includes a stiffening member in the form of a spring having a coiled spring portion intermediate the ends of the spring. One end of the spring is secured to a point forward of the rake body, such as at the forwardmost end of the rake body, or to the spreader member which spaces and secures the spacing of the rake tines. The other end of the spring is secured to a point near the rearmost portion of the rake, such as at the handle portion of the rake body, or to the handle itself.
Recently, rakes have been developed which are made from a unitary molded plastic body with various methods for securing the tines to the molded rake body.
It is an aim in the art to provide such a construction wherein the plastic molded body is further stiffened by securing an intermediate portion of the spring to the rake body itself. Such a construction addresses the problem of concentrating the forces caused by deflecting tines and thus the ends of the spring at the head and rear of the rake, by diffusing at least a portion of the forces to an intermediate portion of the rake body itself.
It is another problem in this art to use plastic spreaders for fixing the location of the tines and securing the tines in a spaced fan-like array. It is desired to use a plastic expander to cooperate with the tines; however, when such an expander is used as an anchor for the end of the stiffening member, it is necessary to accommodate significant pressures caused by the deflection of the spring. Thus, the expander structure becomes unnecessarily large, or it is necessary to use a more expensive, higher strength plastic for the expander member.
Accordingly, as will be discussed and understood, the rake according to the present invention provides a significant number of advantages over existing rakes wherein the present rake anchors the stiffening spring at a location intermediate the ends of the spring, such as at the coil portion, to a portion of the rake body, thus diffusing the forces of deflection otherwise concentrated at the spreader bar, or at the forwardmost end of the rake body.